Showcase Presents: Doom Patrol Vol. 2 [Paperback]

Arnold Drake (Author), Bob Brown (Illustrator), Various (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Over 500 pages of offbeat super-hero action are collected in this value-priced volume!

This fast-paced volume introduces The Doom Patrol, one of comics' strangest super-teams. Led by their wheelchair-bound chief, Niles Calder, three outcasts of society -- Negative Man, Elasti-Girl and Robotman -- take the qualities that make them freaks and become heroes. Together, the trio would take on bizarre menaces including General Immortus, The Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man and The Brotherhood of Evil!

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (August 24, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401227708
• ISBN-13: 978-1401227708
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #151,203 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The completion of the first Doom Patrol run- fantastic 60s era adventures, August 29, 2010

By	Louis Coniglio "Pickles" (Georgia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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This review is from: Showcase Presents: Doom Patrol Vol. 2 (Paperback)

I absolutely loved the first Showcase Doom Patrol collection. The book featured many themes that became popular throughout comics- alienated heroes, freakish powers, and personalities that did not mesh well. This book continues and expands on those themes. The group seems closer to each other in these stories, and much of the first part of the book deals with the relationship between Elasti-Girl and Mento, and how it affects the others on the team. The insults that the characters hurl at one another seem like any Saturday morning cartoon these days, but remember that these stories were pretty ground-breaking for the late 60s. It's pretty easy to see that this book was cutting edge, was largely unpopular compared to more mainstream heroes, and in my opinion, was a precursor to the darker themes and personalities seen in comics to this day.

Bruno Premiani's art continues to be stellar, drawing an odd group of heroes and villains with great skill. I noticed too that many of the panels show odd proportion, like limbs that stretch unusually far to fill the panels with detail. It's no distraction, particularly compared to modern cartoons like Teen Titans or Adventure Time (where limbs stretch and bodies contort with regularity). Arnold Drake's scripts are filled with funny one-liners, a touch of fourth-wall breaking moments (example- Robotman talking about one of the text boxes on an issue's cover). I can think of tons of books this collection probably influenced, including the work of great writers like Alan Moore and Grant Morrison.

Overall, Drake and Premiani were really pushing the envelope on Doom Patrol, including a surprise ending to the series. Many of these collections, particularly the ones from the 1960s, seem fairly awkward and repetitive. Not this one. The sense of fun they were having with the book comes through in each page, and I only wish other Showcase collections could be this good.